CDC Surveillance System: Reported Cause of End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)

Reported Cause of End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)^a,b by Age and Diagnosis For 2016–2018 United States Renal Data System
Diagnosis	0–4 years	5–9 years	10–13 years	14–17 years	18–21 years	22–44 years
Unknown or Missing Cause	3.7	7.2	8.3	8.7	10.4	7.0
Diabetes	8.2	1.8	.7	.2	.8	21.8
Hypertension	6.7	2.1	1.4	1.9	5.2	22.2
Glomerulonephritis	10.1	14.9	20.5	28.1	34.3	30.5
Cystic Kidney	33.5	16.4	13.9	12.7	7.9	3.7
Other Causes	37.8	57.5	55.2	48.4	41.4	14.8

Footnotes:
^a Adapted from the 2020 USRDS Annual Data Report (United States Renal Data System, 2020).

^b For the purposes of this analysis, individuals 21 years of age or younger are considered children, while individuals older than 21 years of age are considered adults.

For the years 2016-2018 combined, the greatest causes of ESRD in individuals aged 21 years and younger are glomerulonephritis and “other cause,” which includes tumors, complications of transplanted organs, interstitial nephritis, and congenital disease. For the same period, individuals aged 22-44 years, the greatest causes of ESRD were glomerulonephritis (30%), diabetes (22%), and hypertension (22%).

Chart Explanation:

Among those between 0 and 21 years of age, other causes - which includes tumors, complications of transplanted organs, interstitial nephritis, and congenital disease - and glomerulonephritis appeared to be the most common reported cause of ESRD for the years 2016-2018. Whereas among individuals aged 22-44 years, the most common reported causes of ESRD were glomerulonephritis (30%), diabetes (21.8%), and hypertension (22.2%); while the least commonly reported causes was cystic kidney (3.7%). Differences may be attributed to diabetes and hypertension generally observed in those of older ages.

The United States Renal Data System (USRDS) is a national registry of all patients treated for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the United States. It is sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that reports prevalence of all treated ESRD in the United States. U.S. population denominators are determined through U.S. Census data. Tables from the USRDS annual report (United States Renal Data System, 2020) are publicly available for download.

Field	Data
Description of Measure	Reported cause of ESRD among individuals aged 0 to 44 years of age
Data Source	USRDS (NIDDK/CMS)
Type of Data Source	Public
Data Set	USRDS
Health Care Data System	Yes
Regional or National?	National
Demographic Group	Medicare-eligible U.S. citizens with ESRD-related claims with known age, race/ethnicity, and gender
Numerator	Number of patients younger than 45 years of age reporting a specific cause of ESRD
Denominator	Individuals with ESRD who are 44 years of age or younger
Definition of CKD	Stage 5, <15 ml/min/1.73 m² with Medicare-eligibility for ESRD-related treatment
Primary Data Source Indicator	Number of patients reported a diagnosis of ESRD between 2012 and 2014
Primary Indicator Method of Measurement	Claims
Frequency of Measurement	Annual (cross-sectional)
U.S. Region Covered by Primary Variable	All
Period Currently Available	2011–2018
Additional Data Items of Interest	Year, age (from date of birth), race/ethnicity (from Medicare 2728 form), gender (from Medicare 2728 form), assigned cause of ESRD (from Medicare 2728 form), BMI
Limitations of Indicator	Only those who are Medicare-eligible are captured & eligibility may be delayed
Analytic Considerations	Denominators change with missing stratification variables

References and Sources:

United States Renal Data System. 2020 USRDS Annual Data Report: Epidemiology of kidney disease in the United States. National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD, 2020.

Suggested Citation:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease Surveillance System—United States.
website. http://www.cdc.gov/ckd